


Doggone Shirogane

by c0cunt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, dog park, fuckboy shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 15:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13978029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0cunt/pseuds/c0cunt
Summary: Keith should've never agreed to take Rover to the dog park for Hunk....Or, actually, maybe he should've done this sooner.





	Doggone Shirogane

**Author's Note:**

> this is very loosely inspired by my own dog park experience - i met an intimidatingly attractive dude at the dog park, with his two dogs. we were the only two people there, and i felt the Need To Make Conversation. which. i'm bad at.  
> anyways, enjoy the dog park fic that's been haunting me since february

Keith felt like hell as he pulled Hunk’s minivan into the parking lot, grinding his teeth at the anxious panting coming from his only passenger.  Hunk had begged Keith to take Rover to the park for him, sniffling noisily as Pidge had run out the door to head to work. And how could Keith say no to a sick, sad looking Hunk?  Physically impossible, which is why Lance had been scrambling to the store to buy even more tissues and cold medicine, leaving the task of taking their mutt to get some exercise to poor Keith.

 

Maybe he was getting whatever it was Hunk had, or maybe it was from wearing clothes that he  _ knew _ were greasy and disgusting - Keith hadn’t been able to find the time or energy to do laundry in the past who-knew-how-long, and hadn’t even gotten a shower.  Or maybe it was that he was still recovering from an impromptu thirteen-hour shift. Whatever the reason, Keith’s face scrunched up in disgust and pain when a cloud scuttled away from the sun, at the same time that Rover was able to leap joyfully out of the car.  Keith let out a strangled sound as he dove for Rover’s trailing leash, visions of the dumb mutt being run over by some shitty driver spurring him on. However, the fear was thankfully unnecessary: The only other car in the entire lot was a large black pickup truck, obviously well loved and decorated with several bumper stickers.  Still, Keith didn’t breathe easily until he had corralled Rover towards the first of three gates at the entrance, warily watching the two giant dogs running loose further inside the park.

 

Let it be known that Keith wasn’t  _ afraid _ of dogs.  He just had  _ a healthy respect _ for dogs large enough to break his leg if they sat on him.  And the two dogs that were prancing around in the park….Definitely could break a spine, nevermind a damn leg.  At first glance, they appeared to be running without supervision, which mildly panicked Keith, until he spotted someone sitting comfortably on one of the benches underneath the small pavilion closer towards the entrance of the park.  So at least they weren’t  _ entirely _ unsupervised, even though one lone person handling two giant dogs didn’t make for great odds of protection if something went wrong.  Keith felt pretty nervous as he allowed Rover to drag him through the second and third gates, cursing under his breath as he tried to both close the final gate behind them and keep his hold on Rover’s leash at the same time.

 

“For fuck’s sake, you dumb dog, stop pulling for two seconds,” Keith hissed, not looking at Rover as he whined and continued pulling, obviously intent on either becoming friends with or becoming lunch for the two other dogs in the park.

 

“Here, lemme get that,” A kind voice that startled the ever-loving  _ shit _ out of Keith offered, quickly latching the gate for him.  Keith’s head whipped around to look at...To look  _ up _ at the man who had been sitting at the bench.  He was tall and wide, built like a football player, with kind storm-gray eyes and a blue snapback worn backwards, that cover all but a small tuft of bleached white hair that kicked out through the opening of said hat.  Slowly, Keith’s eyes trailed downward, pausing on the man’s black tank top, and stopping very abruptly at his impossibly  _ tiny _ black shorts that barely covered the tops of his thighs.  It was only Rover’s impatient bark that thankfully jumpstarted Keith’s brain and snapped his eyes away from continuing to inappropriately stare, and he stumbled back into the fencing for a moment before snapping down to unleash the dog.

 

“...Thanks,” Keith eventually mumbled out, as Rover’s paws ate up dirt, running the length of the park.  He peered up through his eyelashes up at the man, who had stepped back a little bit and was watching the dogs fondly.  The white lettering on the man’s tank top finally registered, and Keith snorted quietly, wondering if it was a joke. (What sort of person is fearless enough to wear a “Let me make myself perfectly queer” shirt somewhere that isn’t a pride parade?  Someone that definitely isn’t Keith.)

 

“No worries dude.  Your dog’s, what, a year at most?  Brave of ya to bring ‘em out here,” The man nodded sagely, tucking his thumbs into the waistband of his shorts as he peered down at where Keith still crouched.  

 

“He’s not my dog,” Keith automatically responded, gaining a confused eyebrow quirk as he stood up.  “My friend is sick, and roped me into bringing Rover. And contrary to all of,” Keith gestured to the way Rover was sprinting up and down the fence line, eyed warily by the other man’s dogs,  _ “That, _ the vet thinks that he’s about four or five years old.”

 

The man let out an impressed whistle, and laughed as three dogs turned towards him.  “Rover, huh? Cute name.” He said, and eyed up Keith appraisingly for a second. Heat ricocheted up from Keith’s belly into his face, and he averted his eyes as he slowly circled towards the closest shady bench.  The smaller of the two other dogs let out a mournful howl that made Keith jump slightly, and Rover barked cheerfully back as he skidded to a stop near it.

 

“Jesus, does it always sound like that?”  Keith mumbled as he sank gratefully onto the bench, wincing slightly as he heard the way the question came out.

 

“Not always.  Thunderbird tends to sound like that when he sees a squirrel in a tree or something, but I’m pretty glad that Baby Girl didn’t star-” Before the man could finish speaking, the other dog let out a powerful ‘boof’ that Keith  _ felt, _ like a bass drum had been smacked two steps away from him.  

 

“Baby Girl, manners,” He said warningly, sitting on the same bench as Keith.  That merely called the giant over to them, its tail wagging gently as it curiously approached Keith’s side, sniffing politely.  Keith eyed the dog nervously - it was the same height as Keith when he was  _ sitting on the bench, for god’s sake. _

 

“Holy shit she’s big,” Keith said as he tried to be subtle about scooting further down the bench, away from the dog.  Taking his hat off for a second, the man revealed black roots to his sweaty white hair, shaking his head for a moment before he replaced it, and clicked his tongue to draw the giant dog to his side.  She trotted happily over, and the stranger chuckled as he scratched his hand through its coarse silvery hair with a soft look on his face.

 

“She’s full Irish Wolfhound, aren’tchu my wittle Baby Girl?”  The man cooed to his dog, who wiggled happily as she was scratched.  Keith let out a hum and nodded, but having little to no idea what the heck an Irish Wolfhound was, he couldn’t really comment on it.  But he could comment on…

 

“Well, we know all the dog’s names now,” Keith subtly joked, one eye still on Rover, who was unironically roving the park with Thunderbird at his heels.  

 

“Look at me, telling my dog to mind its manners and forgetting my own.  The name’s Shiro, dude,” Shiro, dude, said, with a dazzling smile and a hand outstretched towards Keith.  

 

“Keith,” he muttered shortly, and quickly shook Shiro’s hand, at a loss of what to do.  What do you  _ do _ while at a dog park?  Just watch the dogs? What was the protocol for sharing a bench with a stranger, a very  _ hot _ stranger who appeared to have mastered the art of chill?  Out of the corner of his eye, Keith saw Shiro slump forward and pull out his phone, asBaby Girl bounded away to...Flop gracefully into a mud puddle, her tail wagging at mach speed.

 

“Is she allowed to get muddy?”  Keith stage whispered to Shiro, pointing off in Baby Girl’s direction.  Shiro’s head shot up so fast that Keith heard his neck crack, and the other man was out of his seat at lightspeed, dropping his phone on the bench as he sprinted over to where his dog had momentarily paused in her rolling at Shiro’s approach.

 

“Baby Girl!  No no no, you’re gonna get all gross!”  Shiro cried, tugging the dog upright by her collar.  Keith couldn't help cackling loudly, before standing up to help the poor guy.  Shiro successfully pulled Baby Girl upright, but he was having trouble turning on the water spigot and keeping her from diving away at the same time.

 

“Here, lemme get that,” Keith parrotted from earlier, and Shiro smiled gratefully as Keith helped splash clean water onto his muddy dog.

 

“Thanks, she can be a handful sometimes,” Shiro sighed, forcibly pulling Baby Girl away from the new muddy spot and onto the small slab of concrete that was near the water spigot.  Now, Keith was no dog expert, but a dog  _ that size _ had to weigh a lot…

 

“Uh, yeah, don't worry about it,” Keith mumbled, and yelped as Baby Girl shook the water off of her, effectively soaking both men.  Shiro remained unfazed, merely laughing at Keith’s reaction as he dripped, still holding Baby Girl tightly at his side as she whined, pointing towards the mud.

 

“Lemme get us a towel, hang on.  Baby Girl, stay.” Shiro ordered, and something hot sparked in the pit of Keith’s stomach at his tone.  Baby Girl whined once, and hung her head, but stayed as Shiro, for whatever reason, climbed the dog park’s fence instead of using the gate entrances.  Keith’s throat went dry as he watched Shiro sprint off, only brought back to where he was as Rover crashed into his side, barking incessantly as Thunderbird nipped at his heels.  If not for Keith’s reflexes, his head probably would’ve smashed marvelously into the pavement; instead, his hands took most of the damage, palms ripping open just as easily as they had when he got into fights as a teenager.

 

Baby Girl’s surprised bark drowned out Shiro’s cursing loudly as he scrambled back over the fence, a small towel from the bed of his truck tossed over his shoulder.  Thunderbird, instead of pursuing Rover, turned back to sniff and whine at Keith, as he pushed himself upright again. Rover barked more, tripping over his own paws as he slowed to a stop, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted and tried to get Thunderbird or Baby Girl to play with him, ignoring the humans completely.

 

“Shut up, Rover.” Keith gritted out as he examined his palms, reaching for the water spigot to rinse off.  

 

“Shit, are you okay ba...bud?” Shiro spluttered, gently grabbing at Keith’s hands and patting them dry with his towel.  “That was a fucken hell of a crash, dude. I have a first aid kit in the truck; I’m gonna round up the dogs first, then we can take care of ya.”  The way Shiro spoke so assuredly made Keith nod in agreement easily, his brain not even protesting as Shiro gently took Rover’s leash from his pocket.

 

Clutching the slightly bloody towel in his hands, Keith watched wordlessly as Shiro let out a sharp whistle that commanded Rover’s attention.  It was nothing short of shocking, the way that Rover obeyed Shiro’s command of ‘come’, drawing Shiro’s own dogs as well. Shiro herded all three of the dogs towards the gates, clipping the correct leashes to them as he clicked his tongue.  Keith was about to follow when the sun glared off of something back at the bench they had both been at: Shiro’s phone still sat there, forgotten up until that point. Keith jogged back for it, picking it up in the folds of the towel, before heading back to where Shiro was waiting with one impatient dog and two patient dogs.

 

“Dude, thanks!”  Shiro chirped happily, easily holding three leashes in one hand as he opened the first gate with the other.  Rover shot through the gate first, followed closely by Thunderbird and Baby Girl. Keith mumbled and scooted past Shiro to the next gate, already fumbling with the latch as Shiro closed the first one.  With only one gate between them and freedom, Keith reached for Rover’s leash, but Shiro held it tightly.

 

“Gotta fix up your hands, bro,” Shiro reminded him, gesturing to the old pickup with a kind smile.  Keith frowned widely, still reaching for Rover’s leash.

 

“You’ve already got those two, let me have the shithead’s leash,” Keith tried to reason, slipping his usual petname for Rover, whose ears perked slightly as he paced in front of the final gate.  Shiro let out a short bark of a laugh, and Rover barked right back, before Shiro took his phone from Keith’s hands instead.

 

“But my hands aren’t bleedy.  Holding a leash is gonna fucken hurt, dude,” Shiro warned, opening the final gate.  Rover sprinted as far as he could on his leash, tugging frantically on a bid for freedom that only seemed to annoy Thunderbird and Baby Girl.  Keith winced slightly, imagining that amount of tugging on his injured hands.

 

“...Shit.  Thanks, again…” Keith mumbled, trailing behind Shiro and the dogs.  Shiro opened the cab of the truck, and both of them laughed slightly as Rover hopped into the passenger seat immediately.  “Rover, no, get down,” Keith scolded, as Shiro hooked the dog leashes onto a bar on the cab’s interior. Thunderbird and Baby Girl settled in the back seat of the cab, panting happily as Shiro opened the doors on the other side, allowing for a crossbreeze to cool them.  Then he was rummaging on the floor in the back, getting whacked in the face with Thunderbird’s tail at least once. He was smiling when he popped out of the backseat, small plastic case in hand as he slid squeakily over the hood of the truck, back to Keith’s side.

 

“No worries bro, here,” Shiro said earnestly, popping open the plastic emergency kit that was overstuffed with supplies.  Keith let out a slight laugh as he reached for some of the many sterile gauze packets, as Shiro dug deeper for a well-loved tube of disinfectant.  Rover sniffed and danced around in the front seats of Shiro’s truck as Shiro slowly disinfected and wrapped Keith’s hands, humming a tune that Keith couldn’t place.  Keith almost felt awkward, silently letting this large man bandage him up, but. It was nice to be taken care of by a cute stranger, if only for a moment.

 

“Again, thanks for this,” Keith said, forcing a lopsided smile as he reached for Rover’s leash with a freshly bandaged hand.  Rover whined loudly as he was encouraged out of Shiro’s truck, tail hanging sadly as Keith lifted him out bodily. “I’ll, uh, seeya around I guess?”  Keith asked, arms full of sad dog as he took a step back towards his car.

 

“Hey, uh, wait a moment dude,” Shiro called, stepping towards Keith as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.  Keith raised his eyebrows, waiting for Shiro to continue, and letting Rover down, holding the dog close to his side.  “How about you let me take you to the...Planetarium? To make up for the ripped hands and the wet dog, y’know?" He asked hopefully.  Keith blinked twice rapidly as his eyebrows disappeared underneath his bangs - he’d been hit on before, but not by someone who was both chill and hot as hell.

 

“The planetarium?”  Keith repeated almost dumbly.  Shiro nodded his head rapidly, before stilling and letting a sleazy smirk cross his face as he looked Keith up and down.

 

“Yeah.  We can study the stars and shit...Then maybe later I can explore Uranus?”  Shiro dropped the sleazy look, even though it suited his words, and instead looked hopefully at Keith, who snorted loudly as his face heated up.

 

“You know, most people just ask for a phone number, instead of asking to explore someone’s ass,” Keith huffed out a laugh, smirking back as his eyes wandered up and down Shiro.

 

“I mean, I could do that too…” Shiro said thoughtfully.  “But fucken frankly, bro, I’m an ass kinda guy, and yours looks like it’d fit perfectly in my hands.”  Keith’s eyes immediately zeroed in on Shiro’s wide hands, waving slightly in his direction as his mouth went dry.

 

“I...Could be persuaded…” Keith said slowly, biting his lower lip thoughtfully.  Shiro grinned lopsidedly and took another step into Keith’s personal space.

 

“Oh really?”  Shiro purred, eyes locked on Keith’s mouth.  Rover decided that he had had enough of just standing around, pulling Keith towards Shiro’s truck to see the other dogs.  Keith yelped as he was dragged into Shiro’s chest, a hand up to keep himself from face planting into the other man’s chest.

 

“Maybe when I’m not dogsitting.  Raincheck for the planetarium?” Keith asked hopefully as he pulled Rover forcibly back to his side.  Shiro nodded rapidly, and Keith rattled off his number. Shiro scrambled to type it in, and sent off a text just as quick - a buzz in Keith’s pocket confirmed it.

 

“I should probably take my doggos home, too.  Seeya soon Keith?” Shiro asked hopefully as he took a step back towards his truck.

 

_ “Very _ soon,” Keith promised as he dragged Rover back to his car.  It took a moment for both men to get themselves ready to leave, and Shiro left first with a quick wave.  Keith glanced at the panting, squirming dog in his passenger seat. “Maybe I should’ve used you to pick up guys a long time ago,” Keith muttered thoughtfully, as he opened the text from a random string of numbers - Shiro’s numbers.  Eggplants and sweat, mostly, followed by a ‘Shiro from the dog park’. Perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!!! please lemme know down below (kudos or comments!!) if you enjoyed!!!


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